Giants lowering contract offer to Saquon Barkley makes things more complicated

Well, no wonder Saquon Barkley isn't happy with his contract situation and he's staying away from NY Giants OTAs in East Rutherdord. As all of you know by now, Barkley was placed on the non-exclusive franchise tag, which means he'll be making $10.1 million for the 2023 season.

That's not good enough for No. 26 and we don't blame him for wanting more dough. However, the issue is that he and Joe Schoen haven't been able to meet in the middle. In a new report from Giants insider Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, he's actually reporting that the most-recent offer the G-Men put on the table was actually less than the number from during the season. Oh my.

NY Giants and Saquon Barkley remain far apart on contract talks

If Barkley wasn't happy with the money the G-Men offered in the fall, then he surely didn't love seeing the figure drop after the draft - after his career-best 2022 campaign. At the end of the day, though, the RB market isn't favoring Barkley in this situation.

At the same time, Schoen doesn't want to overpay Barkley, as he's got other contracts to keep in mind. Earlier this offseason, it seemed like there was plenty of hope around the Giants getting things done with Barkley and Daniel Jones.

However, if Barkley plays on the tag in 2022, he'll make his guaranteed $10.1 million. If the Giants tag him again next offseason, it will result in more than $12 million for the 2024 campaign - but what if Saquon has a down year in '23 or gets hurt? Then the Giants could just let him walk.

No one wants to see that and the risk of injury is probably another reason why Barkley wants to get paid as soon as possible. The Giants don't seem like they're ready to budge, though. It doesn't feel like anything will get finalized soon - and we could see nothing happen before the July 17 deadline too.

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